Tag Archives: Sustainable Development Fund

Thank you …..

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Pen y Cae couldn’t have risen from the ashes without help – a lot of help.  

I suppose that the first mention should go to those in Natural Resources Wales (NRW) who had the foresight to realise that the building shouldn’t be left to rot and that with a bit (OK, a lot) of TLC could be made a useful resource and who then helped out when negotiations bogged down.  So, thanks to Mike, Brian and Mike for transforming our lives for the last 6 years!

TLC has a habit of requiring a lot of £££.  We were so fortunate to have found others who had the vision that Pen y Cae could be a wonderful local resource. 

First and foremost, the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Sustainable Development Fund, who have supported us from the start, through thick and thin, ups and downs, Covid and price rises.   Thank you, we couldn’t have done it without you. 

Further funding came from:

Awards for All

Natural Resources Wales, People & Places

Welsh Water Community Fund

Monmouthshire Building Society Charitable Foundation

Monmouthshire LEADER

Black Mountains Land Use Partnership 

Llangattock Green Valleys Community Fund

John and Elizabeth Gibbs

Sue and Ian Mabberley

Dominic Shorthouse and Amanda Rudman

Christopher and Yvonne Larkins

Cath Larkins

Camilla Newton

Oliver Fairclough

Deb Checkland

Vicky Jones

Charlotte Ennis

It also couldn’t have happened without the time and skills of residents of the valley and others who became involved due to their determination to make Pen y Cae happen.  Particular thanks to Andy Schultz for his pro bono work on the legal aspects, Emma Drabble (and family) for two lovely videos and  Simon Thomas, Coed Farm for donating the first load of firewood.   And Cath Larkins without whom none of this may have happened.

It also couldn’t have happened without the excellent contractors we had, who were willing to work miles from anywhere and sometimes not in the best of the weather.  Many also gave us generous discounts as they realised how important the project is. 

FWT for the water installation

Pro-Fit Energy for solar, internal lighting (and sleeping on the roof!)

Rowan of Wind & Sun for the solar design

Dave Harries for the plumbing

Stoves & Stacks for the Esse installation

Woodhouse Engineering for the security shutters

Ivor Prentice for building works and internal woodwork

Walters Heating Services for the gas cooker installation 

Mick Petts for the tables and benches

And even Thomas Waste Management for letting me persuade them to take a skip into the middle of a forest!

Not forgetting members of the Grwyne Fawr Community Interest Company and the Pen y Cae Working Group for cleaning, decorating, building works, buying bits & pieces and (lots of) meetings. 

Finally to all those who attended our Open Days and the like which gave us the impetus to carry on. 

Overnighters at last!

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Things are starting to move ahead at long last up at Pen y Cae. First we had a new water collection tank installed and last week the solar PV stuff was being installed.

The three guys doing the PV were so taken by the position of PyC that they asked if they could stay the night. No problem. I know one slept on the scaffolding on the roof, but not sure about the others.

Next will come the new security shutters and doors, then it is connecting up the water inside and adding the filters etc.

Slowly, slowly, but we are getting there!

At last!

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Who would have thought on that day in April 2018, when we spoke to the NRW Manager, Mike Cresswell, about Pen y Cae, that we would soon be posting back the signed Lease just a mere four years later!

The two Ians post the lease documents.
The two Ians post back the lease documents

Yes, it really has been four years since that fateful conversation, but now it finally looks as though we’ll have to start getting our hands dirty in bringing the building up to scratch. There’s plenty to do; fix the water supply, sort out a solar power system, get the wood burner up there and fitted, get the gas cooker up and fitted, reglaze the broken windows, get new padlocks for the doors and a few coats of paint won’t go amiss either.

Put it another way- the hard work starts here. Although to be fair there’s been a lot of hard work involved already; negotiating the lease (big tanks to Andy Schultz), getting funding (big thanks to Sue Mabberley) in particular.

Finally, a big Thank You to Helen and Barbara at the National Park for being so patient having approved the funding such a long time ago and looking after our money whilst we waited for the legal proceedings.

UPDATE:

It took the solicitors and NRW another three and a half months to do their end of the signing the lease, but now we think we have it all sorted out!

Pen y Cae on Sea???

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Amazing weather on Sunday, with clear sunny skies on the tops and thick mist in the valleys, makes Pen y Cae look like it’s by the seaside!

I suppose on a VERY clear day and standing on a tall step ladder with a good pair of binoculars, you MIGHT just see the Bristol Channel, but in truth Pen y Cae remains a mountain get-away rather than a seaside chalet.

The good news however is that the Brecon Beacons National Park Sustainable Development Fund have accepted our funding bid for just over £21,000 and so we now await the decision from Awards for All to match fund the SDF.

Watch this space!